The Drifter
by Got a jar of dirt
Summary: Cloud has left Gaia and has traveled to the newly discovered planet of Grande Pulse. He's become a drifter, never staying in one place for long and never making friends. However, will that change when he stumbles across the town of New Bodhum? Simple summary but a good story if I don't say so myself! Give it a try!
1. Chapter 1

Cloud killed the Fenirirs engine as he pulled into the parking lot of a near by bar. It was almost midnight and he had been driving for almost three days strait.

Cloud let out a satisfied moan as his feet connected with the ground and stretched like a cat.

pressing a silver button to open his sword compartment and pulled out buster blade, his only friend left.

Buster sword had a fine layer of rust on it after being exposed for the elements for so long but Cloud was slowly bringing out the shine again. Cloud placed buster sword on his back and walked in the entrance.

The bar was on a beach, white sand, blue ocean and a palm tree making it look like a piece of paradise.

Cloud looked around as he entered, subconsciously taking note of all exits and everyone still drinking.

A few people looked up at him, or rather his six foot blade strapped to his back, as he walked by and sat at the counter.

"What can I get for you?" An upbeat voice said.

Cloud looked up and saw a cute girl that looked around his age with pink hair and a cheerful smile looking back at him, "I'll take a coffee." Cloud said in his usual flat tone.

The waitress nodded and rushed off to make his order.

Moments later the waitress returned with a cup and a pot of coffee, "So where you from Mr?" she asked as she pored his cup.

"Gaia." Cloud answered back a bit coldly, trying to end the conversation but not be rude.

The pinket didn't seem to take the hint, "Ohh, you're a long way from home then! What brought you up all the way to Grande Pulse?"

Gaia was Grand Pulses neighboring planet. Gaia, under the leadership of the WRO, had just developed the technology to travel here.

However, Gaian tech took almost a year to get between the two planets so Cloud had been put in stasis for the trip. He had arrived on Grande Pulse about two months ago.

Cloud stared into his black coffee as memories bubbled to the surface no matter how hard he tried to push them down.

Cloud shrugged as he took a sip from his scalding hot flat black coffee, "There has to be a reason! Nobody just packs their bags and drives off to a different planet for no reason!" The waitress pushed.

"They do if they don't have a reason left to stay."

Serah's eyes went wide at the mans cold, pain filled tone and dropped the subject.

_He reminds me of Lighting, _she thought as she walked away to take care of her other customers.

They had the same stoic attitude that she recognized right away, they even looked a bit alike!

Serah noticed him right when he walked in, who couldn't? With that long spiky blonde hair that defied gravity, suited his almost angelic looking face perfectly.

_And those eyes...they practically glow!_

They were the most brilliant blue she had ever seen and she noticed a forest green around the pupil.

She also noticed the HUGE sword strapped on his back, it was kinda hard to miss, it was even harder to miss the fact that anyone could tell that is had seen some heavy use.

Serah glanced back at the man who was vacantly staring out the counter while taking an occasional sip of his coffee.

_He even drinks his coffee the same way as Lighting! _Serah thought, she didn't know how they could drink it like that.

She drowned her coffee in sugar and creamer before she could even think about drinking it.

_Speaking of Lighting, where is she?_ Serah thought as she bussed a table.

Lighting said she had a patrol the perimeter but she said she would be home by 12.

Sighing to herself, Serah returned to the counter.

_Knowing her she probably caught the trail of some monster and won't be back until tomorrow._

_That exactly something she would do, just so she could use the excuse 'I'm tired' to get out of going shopping and having sister day! _Serah thought dramatically.

"Um, excuse me miss?"

Serah looked over at the blonde and saw he was holding up an empty cup, "OH! Sorry!"

She said as she rushed to get him more coffee.

"Thank you," he said, "could you also tell me what town I'm in miss?"

Serah smiled, "Just call me Serah, and your in New Bodhum!"

Cloud nodded, "Thank you...Serah."

Cloud really didn't care what town he was in, for some reason the waitress's upbeat manner had reminded him of his friend Yuffie.

"Your welcome..."

"Cloud. Cloud Strife."

Serah smiled, _that name sounds so familiar. _She thought

Cloud gave her an expecting look, "Well?"

"W-what?" Serah asked confused.

"Your not going to make a comment about my name?" Cloud asked with some surprise.

"No, of course not! My sisters name is Lighting so its not that unusual for me and...it suits you." Serah said with a tilt of her head.

Cloud seemed like a cloud, above it all.

Cloud looked sad, "You don't know me." He said while taking a sip.

"No, I don't but I can tell you have a good heart Cloud. I'm NEVER wrong when it comes to those types of things!"

Cloud looked away, "Like I said. You don't know me."

Serah felt her heart swell at Clouds broken tone, Serah was a naturally warm hearted person but there was something special about Cloud that made her just want to drop everything and give him a hug.

"HEEYYY, SPIKY!" yelled out a voice.

Cloud and Serah looked over at the source and saw it was a huge man with a multicolored mohawk.

"Gadot, quiet down!" Serah scolded Snows childhood friend.

However, Gadot was far to drunk to pay attention.

"HEY, SPIKY." He said again as he stumbled his way over.

"What do you want?" Cloud asked with narrowed eyes.

Its been his experience that big men and alcohol never mixed well.

"I'm just wantin to know sumtin." Gadot slurred

"And that would be?"

"Whats with the big sword? Ya' overcompensating for somthin?" Gadot laughed and got drunkin chuckles from his friends in the corner booth even though he tripped over the word overcompensating.

Cloud sighed as he turned around back to his coffee.

"HEY! I'm talkin to ya," Gadot yelled, "you think your so bad cuz ya got a big sword ya can just ignore me?" He raged.

Gadot reached out and grabbed buster blades grip and pulled it off the magnet that kept it on Clouds back while yelling, "ya wont be so tough without your sword!"

Almost immediately after Gadot pulled back with the sword in hand, Gadot dropped it.

Buster blade landed on the floor with a very loud _THUD, _Serah looked over at Cloud who was watching Gadot make a fool of himself with some amusement.

"What the..." He mumbled as bent over to pick it up and grunted when he realized he couldn't. Reaching down with both hands, Gadot managed to bring buster blade up to his hip but the tip was still firmly planted on the ground.

"Gadot, stop making an idiot of yourself and give Cloud back his sword!" Serah said, mimicking one of Lightings stern looks and tone.

Gadot scoffed, "Fine whateva." he said as he dropped the blade to prove a point.

Only Cloud stuck his leg out and caught buster blade by the handle between his shin and his boot.

With practiced ease, Cloud kicked up the handle high enough where he caught it. Then faster than the blink of an eye, buster blade was at the edge of Gadot's throat.

Even though Buster blade had a bit of rust on it, the edge was still razor sharp, "Don't ever touch my sword again." Cloud growled, sending shivers down both Serah and Gadot's spines.

Could left the edge of buster blade against Gadot's throat for a few more moments to make sure his point had been made, then turned around back to his coffee as he placed his weapon back in its place.

Serah looked at Cloud in surprise, Gadot had struggled to even lift that huge thing with both hands but he had lifted it as if it weighed no more than a broom! With one hand!

Serah looked over at Gadot and saw he was fuming with embarrassment, she knew what was going to happen a moment before it did.

With a wordless cry, Gadot launched himself at Cloud who fell to the ground with Gadot on top of him.

"Ya think ya tough?" he yelled as he tried to punch Cloud.

Cloud simply caught the oversized fist before it made contact and he placed his boot against Gadot's stomach and hurled him over.

Cloud had put a little more force in it then he had intended because Gadot went flying out the bar and landed on the soft sand.

Cloud looked over at Gadot's friends and were annoyed to see all of them were charging him.

Cloud sidestepped a blow from a blue haired man and ducked underneath a punch from a blonde headed kid.

"STOP IT!" Serah yelled, trying to hold Yuri back.

Then a gunshot went off.

Serah's heart leapt to her throat as she saw Clouds shoulder jerk forward, revealing Gadot who was holding his smoking machine gun.

Cloud used the momentum of the bullet to spin around and delivered a devastating blow to the blonde, who flew backwards and hit the blue head. Cloud whipped buster blade out in time to deflect a burst of gunfire from Gadot before sprinting towards the drunk gunman.

Time seemed to slow as Cloud reached for the gun with the hand that didn't have buster blade, Gadot's eyes went huge as Cloud grabbed the guns barrel and jerked it up but Gadot had squeezed the trigger in surprise.

Cloud felt a bullet tear into his collarbone moments before he had the gun safely pointing at the ceiling.

Gadot gave a startled cry as Cloud hit him in the head with the handle of his weapon and Gadot dropped to the floor like a sack of potatoes.

Cloud looked back at Serah to see if she was okay, She was except she looked horrified, scared and close to tears.

"You okay?" Cloud asked as he placed buster blade on his back and kicked Gadot's gun away.

Serah gave a small nod, "Your hurt." She said breathlessly, looking at the dark stain on Clouds sleeve.

Cloud looked down at his shoulder and collarbone, "I'll be fine. Sorry about the mess." He said, gesturing to the overturned tables from the path of the two he had hit.

Serah violently shook her head, "NO! You didn't do anything wrong! Those...those idiots! They could have killed you! I told them no guns when they were drinking...they could have killed you." Serah said, repeating the last part with a sob at the end.

Cloud walked over and awkwardly patted her shoulder, "Trust me, this isn't my first time being shot, I'm okay."

"Let me take a look." Serah commanded

"No, need-"

"You were shot, you need to get it looked at and stitched up and stuff." Serah said, looking for the emergency kit.

Cloud sighed and sat down on the stool, he took of buster blade and the clothes off his top half.

Serah tried not to openly ogle Clouds lean and hard body, flat abs, pecs, the propionate V that dipped into his pants.

_Think of Snow, think of Snow, think of Snow._ Became Serah's mantra as she wiped blood of Clouds shoulder.

Revealing completely smooth skin.

"wha..." Serah breathed, giving it another wipe to make sure she wasn't seeing things.

"I told you I'm fine, I heal pretty fast."

"No kidding..."

Serah finished mopping up the blood before telling Cloud he could put his clothes back on.

"Well, its been nice meeting you Serah but I should get going." Cloud said, slinging buster blade back on.

"wha-now?"

Cloud nodded, "I shouldn't overstay my welcome."

Serah smiled, "You can stay the night here Cloud, you can take off to go do what your here to do tomorrow."

Cloud blushed and Serah realized how here words could have been taken, "OH! I didn't mean-We, my fiancé and I, have a guest bedroom you could use! Wait, we've been renovating it so you probably couldn't sleep in there but you could sleep in Lightings room!" Serah rambled.

Cloud took a few minutes to consider this, spending another three says on the fenirir didn't appeal to him nearly as much as the offer of a soft bed, "Are you sure? Your sister won't mind?"

Serah scoffed, "She's on patrol right now so she's going to stall until about noon tomorrow to get out of sister time, so she probably won't even know!"

Cloud looked uncomfortable for a moment before nodding he would stay.

Serah led him to the house part of the bar and walked him into a blue room with a white bed, there were little to no personal object in it other than a photo of Serah and what must have been her sister on a table next to the bed.

"The bathrooms through that door, you can shower in the morning, and we serve breakfast at 10! Goodnight!" Serah said before leaving Cloud alone in the room.

Cloud placed a hand on the bed and gave it a small push, he was glad to see it was soft. He unstrapped buster blade and took of the his turtle neck jacket before climbing in.

He fell asleep the moment his head hit the pillow.

**To all of you who are wondering why Serah is working at the bar since she's a school teacher, Its summer and she felt like helping out around her home/bar.**

**Also, Serah is physically attracted to Cloud but this is a LightingxCloud story, unless an overwhelming amount of you want this to be SerahxCloud. I know what some are you thinking, "Why would anyone want to ship Serah and Cloud?" I know it seems like an odd pairing but I recently read a FanFic called "The Boy from the Bookstore" by iVanilleay. The story is AMAZING! I highly recommend it for anyone and if you do read it, leave a nice review because it makes writers happy.**

**Also, this story takes place a year after the events in AC and i made up my own ending to FFXIII-2. In my ending, Lighting came back and Noel stayed in their time. They also are in year 05AF, how they got there I'm not sure but their there.**

**I hoped you enjoyed the chapter! Tell me what you think!**


	2. Chapter 2

_Explosions violently shook the Highwind. Cloud and his friends were approaching the ancient city of Rouen by air but dragons of all color were making it difficult. _

_"Dammit! I don't think I can get us any closer, these F***ing dragons are tearing us a new one!" Cid yelled as a fire ball exploded on the deck._

_"Are you sure you can't get us any closer?" Cloud calmly asked Cid, who was struggling to avoid dragons who were trying to kamikaze the Highwind. _

_Cid shook his head, "It'll be safer if ya' walked."_

_Yuffie scowled, "What about you?" _

_"I'm going to keep these F***ing dragon occupied!" Cid yelled as he yanked the steering wheel to the right._

_He barked a laugh when he saw everyones concerned looks, "Don't worry! Its going to take a hell of a lot more that these overgrown lizards to bring down the Highwind! Now, get the f*** off my ship."_

_Cloud nodded and grabbed the rope ladder and tossed it over the edge, he looked back at Cid, "Stay safe." He yelled over the roaring dragons._

_Cid nodded and Cloud hopped off the edge of the ship and was quickly followed by Barret, Vincent, Yuffie, Tifa and Red._

_..._

_Everyone looked up at the Highwind, who took several more blast of fire. _

_"Come on Cid, get out of there." Tifa muttered as she watched Highwind's rudder catch fire._

_"No need to worry tiff. Cids gonna be fine." Barret reassured but his words were proven to be a lie._

_Moments later Highwind exploded. _

_Every gaped up in horror as the Highwind began to fall to Gaia while on fire, still occasionally exploding._

_"Cid..." Yuffie whispered into her hand._

_"He...He's fine!" Barret yelled, "No way someone as stubborn as Cid is gonna die to those b***hes! he probably got out sum how!" _

_Cloud looked up with a sinking heart, taking a deep breath he said, "We need to move."_

_Everyone except Vincent and Red looked at Cloud angrily, "Cid just died Cloud!"_

_It was Vincent who defended Cloud, "We all knew that this was going to be a one way trip for most of us, Cid was just the first." _

_Without another word, Vincent began walking to the city and was quickly followed by the rest of the group._

_..._

_Cloud ducked underneath a dragon claw before severing it with a stroke of his blade._

_"Theres so many of them!" Yuffie cried as she caught her four foot long shuriken_

_"This way!" Cloud yelled, pointing to a sturdy looking building._

_Everyone rushed in and caught their breath, "Theres a flippin army out their!" Yuffie yelled breathlessly._

_Everyone grunted in agreement._

_"At this rate we'll never make it to Father." Vincent said calmly._

_Cloud felt a sliver of fear shoot down his back as he developed an idea at what Vincent was getting at._

_"So we'll push harder." Cloud said stubbornly and his heart dropped when he saw Vincent shake his head._

_"Someone needs to stay behind and hold off the monsters while the rest continue. It's the only way." He said in a flat voice._

_"No, Vince. We're not leaving anyone behind!" Tifa yelled stubbornly_

_Everyone else joined in trying to convince Vincent that they needed to stay together._

_Sadly, Vincent couldn't be moved on the subject._

_Everyone started to say their goodbyes but Yuffie._

_"I'm staying too." She said defiantly looking Vincent in the eye._

_"You don't have too Yuffie, I can hold them of long enough to give all of you a small head start." Vincent said, an unidentified emotion leaking its way into his voice._

_Yuffie smiled brightly and punched him in the shoulder, "I always told you I would annoy you until the very end! Plus, the two of us working together can hold of those stupid monsters for way longer then you could alone!"_

_Tifia, Berrat and Red all lined up at the door after saying farewell to their friends._

_Cloud stood in front of Vincent and held out a hand, with a small smile Vincent shook it._

_They didn't need to say anything, Their friendship ran deep enough that word weren't needed._

_Cloud looked at Yuffie, "I'm gonna miss you..." Cloud trailed off, his voice thick with emotion._

_Yuffie smiled at him, "Don't worry Cloud! We'll see each other again! I just hope its not for a while!" She said with a big goofy grin._

_Cloud chuckled and gave her a pat on the head, "Yeah, so this isn't goodbye...is a see ya later."_

_Having all said their goodbyes, Cloud, Tifa, Barret and Red all pressed forward._

_..._

_Cloud tiredly chopped a behemoth in half, each movement sending liquid fire through his muscles. _

We'll never make it to Father...even if we do we'll be to exhausted to fight_, Cloud thought as he narrowly avoided being impailed by a large tentacle._

_Cloud heard a loud masculine yell of anger that only Barret could make._

_He looked up and saw the source of the tentacles and saw a two story tall flower._

_If you could really call it a 'flower.' It had razor sharp teeth and half a dozen tentacles ready to attack, one of witch Barret was warped up in._

_Barret let loose a burst of gunfire with his machine gun hand, then he looked over at the remaining three of his friends._

_"GO!" He yelled, letting another burst of gunfire._

_With renewed vigor Cloud lifted his sword and charged the beast but jumped back when a spray of bullets cut him off, He looked back up at Barret in surprise and saw a look of annoyance on his face, "I told ya' to go! We don't have much time! Go kick Fathers a** and tell Marlene that I love her!" Barret yelled as he unleashed a long burst of gunfire at the monster._

_Cloud looked up helplessly at his friend, In a matter of hours he had nearly lost everyone he cared about._

_Nonetheless, Cloud turned around and grabbed Tifa by the wrist and began to drag her with him with Red close on their heels._

_"CLOUD! WHAT ARE YOU DOING? WE HAVE TO SAVE BARRET!" she screamed at him trying to git out of his steel grip._

_"We can't..." Cloud said, still dragging her along._

_"WHAT DO YOU MEAN WE CAN'T? DON'T YOU CARE-" Tifa's screaming was cut short when she felt a drop of wetness hit her cheek._

_She didn't need to see Clouds face to know he was crying._

_..._

_Cloud's chest heaved as he gasped for breath, he had been fighting and running nonstop for hours and even his mako enhanced body was being pushed to its limits._

_He looked behind him to see how Tifa and Red were doing and wasn't surprised to see them in way worse condition than he was._

_Cloud looked back around and looked for a path that wasn't crawling with monsters, he didn't see one._

_With a battle cry Cloud lifted his sword that seemed to get heavier with every time he lifted it and chopped a boat fly in half while Tifa punched a golem and Red tore into a flan._

_Cloud stubbled a step and a nearby behemoth to the opportunity to strike._

_Cloud watched in slow motion as the behemoth's claw inched forward, he couldn't move. _

_Cloud took a breath as he accepted his fate, he would have liked to live longer and do many things._

_Kill Father and Mother._

_Become a good role model for Denzel._

_Tell Tifa that he loved her._

_Watch Denzel grow up with Marlene._

_Then grow old with the people he cared about the most._

_Out of nowhere a flash of red jumped in front of the behemoths claw a moment before it struck Cloud._

_Cloud watched wide eyed as Red fell to the ground severally wounded as the behemoth let loose a triumphant roar._

_Witch was cut short by Cloud cutting off its head._

_With a roar of defiance Cloud hacked and slashed the remaining monsters before rushing back to Reds fallen form._

_"Red..." Tifa whispered, placing a hand on Nanaki's neck._

_Red's breathing was labored but he managed to say, "Go...on...kill father...do...not..." Cloud and Tifa waited for Red to finish but after a few moments they realized Red had returned to the life stream._

_"Goodb-...seeya later Red." Cloud whispered while picking up a sobbing Tifa to leave before any more monsters showed up._

_..._

_Cloud and Tifa arrived at gates to the temple in the middle of the ancient city._

_Cloud looked over at a red eyed tifa, "Are you ready?" he asked._

_Tifa nodded sending a sad smile at Cloud, "This is it."_

_Cloud nodded and kicked open the door._

_Father was standing in the middle with a wide insane smile, "Ahhh! Finally you come! I thought there would be more of you!" Father laughed._

_Cloud gritted his teeth as he charged Father, without warning a wall of tentacles blocked his path. Cloud sliced through them but when he did he noticed Father had disappeared._

_"You really didn't think it would be that easy?" said a voice, coming from no determinable point._

_"Come out and fight!" Tifa yelled, and tentacles erupted from everywhere in answer._

_Cloud sliced a tentacle in two and made eye contact with Tifa who smiled at him._

_Cloud smirked back but it was quickly replaced with a look of horror as he saw a tentacle dart forward behind Tifa._

_"TIFA!" Cloud screamed as ran forward, intending to knock Tifa out the way._

_Tifa looked confused at Cloud but her expression quickly changed to one of pain as the tentacle pierced her heart a mere half second before Cloud reached her, "NOOO!" Cloud screamed._

_Cloud caught Tifa as she fell, "Cloud..." she breathed as she stared into Clouds eyes as he laid her on her back._

_"Tifa...you're going to be okay. Its all going to be okay! You're going to be fine Teff." Cloud said in a panicked voice while pushing CURE materia into her._

_Tifa smiled weakly as she reached up and stroked his cheek, "Cloud..." said again._

_His name was the final thing she said._

_Cloud screamed in rage and loss as he grabbed fusion blade and charged at the now reappeared Father._

_He screamed as he savagely hacked his way to the man who was responsible for the loss of his friends._

_His family._

_Cloud screamed a scream of loss, a scream of wordless rage that can only be used by those who have had everything they could want only to have it all ripped away from them before their very eyes._

_Cloud sliced his way until he was face-to-face with a surprised and terrified looking Father._

_"Impossible..." he breathed before Cloud stabbed him in the heart with fusion blade and in the kidney with a side blade._

_Father coughed up blood as he smiled back at Cloud, "You think this changes anything," he yelled, "do you think you saved the planet? This changes NOTHING! Mother will overrun you humans with monsters. Killing me accomplishes NOTHING!"_

_"I DON'T CARE!" Cloud screamed._

_"BECAUSE OF YOU I HAVE NO ONE LEFT!" He screamed as he yanked the sword through Fathers heart up and the side blade down._

Cloud opened his eyes to an unfamiliar room. He blinked several times to clear his eyes of blurriness and unwanted memories before siting up.

_Where am I? _Cloud thought as he examined the room he was in.

Blue walls, soft bed, t.v. and the sound of waves.

Then he remembered the events of last night.

He opened his phone, his background was a picture of all of his now deceased friends and Denzel and Marlene, and saw that it was 9:30.

Cloud got out of the incredibly soft bed and stretched like a cat before walking into the bathroom.

He took a quick shower then wrapped himself in a towel, he went to go pick up his pants but the door swinging open distracted him.

Cloud looked up and saw a different pinket that must have been Lighting.

**Hello everyone, hoped you enjoyed the chapter and sorry for the INCREDIBLY late update! My computer got a virus that basically made it useless but now I should be able to update more regularly!**

** Also, let me know if the italic is hard to read! If it is I'll change it to normal.**


	3. Chapter 3

Lighting sighed happily as she walked into her home.

Her, Snow and Noel had picked up the trail of a behemoth during their patrol, they had followed the trail but decided to turn back when it had gotten to dark.

Despite Noels claims to have a flawless sense of direction, they had gotten lost around 2 am. and we're just now getting back. They had given Noel hell on the way home, but it was all in good nature. Noel was like the little brother of the trio, Snow was the wanna be tough guy teenager who occasionally acted like he was five and Lighting was the sister that acted like she was their mother. oddly enough the group dynamic worked.

"Finally, home sweet home!" Snow yawned as he B-lined to his and Serah bedroom. he had been complaining that he hadn't been able to spend much time with her lately due to all the patrols.

Lighting yawned as she made her way to her own, she opened the door and was to tired to even notice the unmade bed and six foot tall blade leaning on the wall.

Lighting tossed her shirt and jacked on the bed, all that remained was her favorite cherry red bra and her shorts, _A nice hot shower will wake me up._ Lighting thought as she made her way to her bathroom.

_With any luck I can get out of 'sister day.' _She thought as she turned the handle.

Lighting loved her sister, she proved that when she took on the world to get her back, but sometimes she could be a little to much. Serah's idea of a "fun" sister day involved the two of them visiting every shop, not buying anything, then go get their nails, hair and make up done.

Lighting didn't mind being pampered every once in a while, but not every Saturday.

Lighting opened the door while unbuttoning her shorts, she did not expect to see someone getting dressed in her bathroom.

Lightings eyes went wide as did the spiky blonde headed mans that bore a crazy resemblance to a giant yellow bird, half a second later Lighting had whipped out Blazing saber that was still holstered to her hip and pointed it at the mans head.

"Who the hell are you? Why are you in my bathroom?" Lighting snarled, to the mans credit, he didn't flinch.

"My names Cloud and your sister, Serah, said uhhh..." Cloud trailed off as he looked away with a red face.

Lighting looked down and realized she was just in her bra and quickly threw an arm up to block any view of her breasts.

"What did Serah say?" Lighting snarled, still using her demanding tone that made most people quiver in fear.

"She said I could sleep here for the night and use the shower." Cloud answered simply, still looking away and seemed completely immune to her tone.

"Why on Grande Pulse would she do that?" Lighting yelled, feeling violated and angry with her sisters stupidity.

"Well, long story short. Some guy named Gadot tried to drunkinly fight me, I embarrassed him, he got angry and shot me. Twice."

Lightings eyes scanned the mans body for any signs of an injury to see his his story was true and was instantly glad Cloud was still looking away because she went red in the face and went weak at the knees.

Having been a solider for most of her life, Lighting was used to seeing muscled men, but Cloud was different.

He had a lean body but heavily defined, a body designed for lighting fast attacks that had power behind them. No extra fat or extra muscle, just a body that looked like it was crafted from stone.

Lighting noted a scar on the right side of his stomach, the scar just made it past the bottom two ribs and Lighting was willing to bet all the gil in the world that there was a matching scar on his back.

However, she didn't see any bullet wounds, "Your lying." She said coldly and Cloud silently curse his ability to heal almost instantly.

"I heal really fast." He offered lamely, Lighting rolled her eyes.

"What if I shot you in the head, would you still heal really fast?" Lighting said mockingly.

She wasn't expecting the answer of, "I don't know. Probably." From the chococbo head.

She didn't know whether to feel insulted or afraid by the blatant honesty in the mans tone.

_This guy sleeps in my bed, uses my shower and had the audacity to get lippy with me? _Lighting raged, placing a finger on the trigger, she got ready to test Clouds theory.

"Don't shoot Light!" Serah's voice rang out a moment before she did shot.

"Serah? Who is this guy?" Lighting asked/demanded.

"His names Cloud!" Serah said, forcing Lighting to lower her weapon.

Lighting glared at her sister, "So he said. Now can you tell me why he's in my room?"

Serah looked embarrassed, "Well, Gadot got really drunk and tried to fight him! When Cloud beat him up Gadot shot him, he doesn't have a wound because he heals like SUPER fast."

Lighting glanced back over at Cloud, who was still avoiding looking at Lighting, "So you were telling the truth."

Cloud nodded, "Stay here while I talk to my sister." With that Lighting slammed the door.

Grabbing Serah wrist and her shirt, Lighting lead Serah to her fiancé.

"Do you have any clue what Serah did?" Lighting asked as she put on her shirt.

Snow nodded while looking annoyed. "Serah, what were you thinking?" Snow asked, trying to keep the outrage out of his voice.

"Yeah, and why in the hell did you say he could sleep in MY room? For all you knew, he could have been some pervert! He saw me in my BRA!" Lighting added.

"Clouds not a pervert! Like I said, Gadot shot him and it was late. He needed a place to stay and I didn't think you would be back so soon..." Serah trailed off looking embarrassed.

That ticked Lighting off.

"So your telling me that its okay because I wouldn't have known about it? Is my room a halfway house for any random drifter and I just haven't known about it?" Lighting asked sarcastically.

"Of course not Lighting! He just needed a place to stay. He reminded me a lot of you so I wanted to help him out a bit, thats all." Serah said, hurt clearly evident in her voice.

Lighting took a deep breath, "Serah, you can't take in every stray. What if he turned out to be some murder? You could have been hurt."

"But I wasn't, Cloud wouldn't do something like that."

"Just how well do you know this guy?" Snow asked, a note of jealously in his voice.

Serah paused at that, all she knew about him was that he carried a big sword and knew how to use it and his name was Cloud.

_You don't know me._ His words rang out in her skull.

Serah sighed, "I don't know him that well," she admitted, "But he seems like a really good person. Just...just give him a try." Serah said with her best puppy dog eyes.

Snow and Lighting melted underneath Serah's pleading gaze.

"Fine..." they both muttered and Serah gave both of them a hug, "Thank you! I'll go make breakfast."

Snow and Lighting made eye contact, both of their eyes sending the message of _lets give this guy hell._

Lighting returned to her bathroom and opened up the door, revealing a fully clothed Cloud.

He looked up and Lighting notice for the first time his beautiful eyes that practically glowed and his heart-throbbing handsome face, "Are you hungry?" Lighting asked curtly.

Cloud started to shake his head no but a very loud grumbling noise came from his stomach. He blushed as he placed a hand on his stomach in attempt to silence it pleas for food.

Oddly, Lighting found herself chuckling, "It'll be ready soon, go ahead and go while I take my shower.

Cloud nodded and slipped past Lighting but stopped at her door, "I'm sorry." He said, giving Lighting a side glance.

Lighting paused for a moment, Cloud did sound sincere.

"Its fine, just a surprise." Lighting said dismissively. She hadn't quiet forgiven him yet.

Cloud just nodded and left.

...

Lighting emerged from her room felling refreshed. It was miracles at what a simple hot shower could do.

She looked over and saw Cloud, who was eating to his hearts content, Snow, who was looking at Cloud appalled at the sheer amount of food Cloud was rapidly devouring, and Serah, who was looking at Cloud with a smile and asking if he wanted more.

Lighting sat in the stool next to Cloud, "Wow, when was the last time you ate?" Lighting asked when she saw the families worth of food on Clouds plate that was rapidly disappearing.

"A couple of days ago?" Cloud said in between bites,

Lighting looked at Cloud curiously, "So where are you from?" Snow asked.

"He said he from Gaia!" Serah answered for Cloud who was busy chewing.

Now Lighting looked at Cloud sispiously, Cloud was a drifter all the way from Gaia who hadn't eaten in several days.

It sounded like he was running from something.

"So what did you do before you came to Grande Pulse Cloud?" She asked, Lighting couldn't tell why but his name sounded familiar.

Cloud paused his chewing in thought.

_I can't exactly tell them the truth, the won't believe it. _He thought as he swallowed.

Plus Cloud didn't want them to believe him, back in Midgar people would stop and part ways when he walked to get groccerys. Some even took it as far enough that they would throw themselves at his feet and kissed his boots.

Women would swoon when he entered a room and men where constantly challenging him to prove themselves.

"I was a courier." He said deciding to tell a fraction of the truth.

Lighting didn't looked impressed, This guy was a delivery boy?

"Whats with the giant sword then?" Snow asked.

Lighting looked over and for the first time notice the six foot tall blade that was leaning against the wall.

Lighting vaguely recalled seeing it in her room and gave Cloud a glare who held his hands up in defense, "I had Snow go in and get it." Serah said.

"Well," Lighting asked, impatiently rolling her eyes.

"Deliveries on Gaia can get kinda dangerous." Cloud said with a shrug.

"And he knows how to use it to! He deflected Gadot's bullets like they were nothing!"

_Well, aren't you a little enigma? _Lighting thought suspiciously. _What kind of delivery boy carries around a six foot long blade?_

"Hey Serah, Snow and Lighting!" came an excited voice from the doorway.

Cloud looked over and saw a boy a few years younger then him that was dressed in a skin tight tribal shirt and odd blue baggy pants.

The boy looked at Cloud and held a hand out, "I'm Noel Kress."

After being the last human on the planet, Noel loved meeting new people.

Cloud shook it, "Cloud Strife."

Noel nodded and looked at Lighting, "Are you ready to track down those behemoths?"

Serah gave Lighting an annoyed look, "Lighting...its sister day."

Lighting looked guilty but shrugged, "We found a group of behemoths on patrol, we have to take them out before they cause trouble."

"Hive."

Everyone looked at Cloud with questioning gazes.

"A group of behemoths are called a hive." Cloud said with a shrug.

Noel gave Cloud a thoughtful look, "You know a lot about monsters? Do you know where they would be?"

Cloud nodded, "Do you have a map?"

Noel pulled out a wrinkled map out of his pocket and gave it to Cloud.

Cloud looked thoughtfully a the map and everyone watched him expectingly.

"Here." he said pointing at a few caves that were added on by Noel.

"How do you know where they would be?" Lighting asked suspiciously.

_I use to kill the things by the dozens for fun._

"I learned where they usually live so I could avoid run ins with them on deliveries." He lied.

Lighting grudgingly nodded as if that made sense, "I'm ready to go, Snow?" Lighting asked looking at a nodding Snow.

"I'm ready."

Noel looked at Cloud, "Are you coming?" he asked, Noel felt weird not including Cloud since he did just give them the monsters location.

Cloud looked over at Lighting, silently asking permission since he had wronged her the greatest.

Lighting thought about it for a moment before nodding, she wanted to figure out Cloud and maybe seeing him in the field would help.

"Thank you for breakfast Serah, it was delicious." Cloud said as he brought the dishes to the sink before following out Snow and Noel.

Lighting waited by the door for Cloud but stopped him before he walked through, "Bit of advice. Don't use my shampoo again, roses and cherries don't fit your wanna be tough guy persona."

Cloud gave Lighting an odd look before chuckling, "I feared as much." He said as both of them went outside.

**Heres chapter three! Hoped you enjoyed it! Please Review!**


End file.
